Wow, George, sorry to see that damage in your book. I hope DMG can help out.

Here's another reason to open those shrinkwrapped signed books:

I bought a new King S/L from the publisher, it came in a slipcase.

There was also a Gift Edition (signed by the artist only) that was materially less expensive and came without a slipcase.

When my slipcased Signed Limited arrived, I opened it to find that someone at the publisher had inadvertently put a gift edition into the signed limited slipcase. The publisher treated me fairly. However had I not checked the sig page until much later, I would have been stuck with a very expensive gift edition.

We had a similar situation with the SIGNED limited edition of 11/23/63 Simon and Schuster offered. They sealed them, but when rumours came out that UNSIGNED versions were accidentally released - then obviously we have to remove the shrinkwrap to make sare our copies were signed. I say in my opinion of course - open the shrink.

Here's my story... As we are all aware, the S/L LSOE was available for quite awhile. I finally opted to purchase both the AE & the Matching signed copy. Well, when they arrived I removed both from their wrap and found in the AE (luckily) that a page in the middle of the book was crumpled and ripped (not the entire page, but a couple inches at the top). It was obvious that it was damaged in the binding process. Yikes!! Grant could not replace the book with the same number but did offer a replacement swap for the damaged book. So glad that it wasn't the S/L copy as the number was 231 (significant now). What that also means is that #231 AE LSOE no longer exists...so how often do you suppose something like this happens?

It does happen. I know of one UK TWTTK L/S book that was damaged. The owner did get it replaced. So, this would be one out of 200. Now, if there is an undiscovered process error then bets are off. There could be hundreds. This happened to one of the Grant recent releases with binding issues. With that said, if I plan to never open the book or plan to sell “as is” unopened, then it does not matter. Books for my collection, this is why I am an advocate of opening all books as soon as possible after arrival, or keep the book forever in un-open condition. Secondly, I would never buy a book off the secondary market with plans to open it. I rather buy an open book so the condition is known and the seller can be responsible… just my thoughts…

Bounce0320 wrote:Here's my story... As we are all aware, the S/L LSOE was available for quite awhile. I finally opted to purchase both the AE & the Matching signed copy. Well, when they arrived I removed both from their wrap and found in the AE (luckily) that a page in the middle of the book was crumpled and ripped (not the entire page, but a couple inches at the top). It was obvious that it was damaged in the binding process. Yikes!! Grant could not replace the book with the same number but did offer a replacement swap for the damaged book. So glad that it wasn't the S/L copy as the number was 231 (significant now). What that also means is that #231 AE LSOE no longer exists...so how often do you suppose something like this happens?

Moral = Always, always unwrap.

Well...now I don't know that it no longer exists. I don't know what Grant does with their damaged/dinged books but other publishers typical sell them later as a bundle deal at a discount. Or it winds up going as a comp to someone.

I am sorry to hear the page was crumpled, I bet some sort of damage happens to a small percentage (1-2% I'd guess) of the books. It is an argument for opening the shrinkrwap.

George at C-Springs wrote:Yeah, I was pretty shocked ... I have never opened a sealed book and seen anything like this. And to top it off it didn't have a remarque, so that just added to my bad afternoon.

I'll open my books for a few reasons. First, if it's not a rare copy, something I can easily replace sealed if I really wanted to (like this DT VII) then I'll open it. Since keeping it sealed for a long time won't necessarily increase it's resale value (if I were to do that), there's not much point in keeping it closed I don't think. Yes, it may keep it a bit cleaner in the long term, and probably protect it a bit from shelf damage, but I can do the same with a Brodart cover or a slipcase ... and with those I can still open the book and admire it (or show it off, as the case may be).

I'll also open to find out what number I got, and to look for that remarque. I would kick myself in the butt if I were to hold a book for 10, 15, 20 years and then find out after I gave it to my kids or sold it that there was a full page Whelan in there or that it was #19. Besides, if you've been following one of the other posts, how are we ever going to verify that there actually were remarques in Little Sisters of Eluria if everybody keeps their copies sealed? (All I got was a stinkin' #1076).